Am I being stupid here ? or what

[dang65]

I thought an acronym was a word (or sound) made up from the letters of a number of other words - so SQL would be pronounced "seequl" but UK (an abbrieviation) would just be pronounced as the letters "you kay". NASA would be an acronym, BAE and abbrieviation.

But I'm just making that up. Now to Google...

[dang65]

Hmm, approximately right, except I can't spell abbreviation.

Acronym is a word made up from other words, like RADAR.

Abbreviation is a shortened version of a word, or words - like Mass. for Massachusetts, or RR for Rolls Royce etc.

[dang65]

ID would be an abbreviation then, I reckon. Unless anyone actually says "idd"???

[AZZIK]

People who refer to a "NIC card" should be shot!

Shot twice..

[expat]

As Drewster and dang65 said, an abbreviation and an acronym are different things.

An acronym is, or in my opinion should be, a word formed from the initial letters of several words.

An abbreviation is just that, a shortened form. This is usefully divided into abbreviation by using the initial letters (this is not an acronym unless the abbreviation is used as if it were a real word), and abbreviation of a word by removing some of it.

Since an acronym is taken to be a word in itself, it should not contain any periods. An abbreviation, OTOH, should contain a mark for every letter or letters removed: this is usually an apostrophe for interior parts removed (as in "can't") and a period for early termination of a word. So actually I should have written "O.T.O.H.".

So we could say that it is "UK" and possibly "SQL" that are wrong: Should be "U.K.", and "S.Q.L." if you pronounce the letters, "SQL" if you pronounce it "sequel".

And of course "UKIP" if you pronounce it as a word, because then it is not just an abbreviation but an acronym.

Finally, it is normal to refrain from using a period where the abbreviation is exactly two letters, the first and last of the word. So "Dr" not "Dr.". However this would theoretically lead to "Mr Jones" and Mrs. Jones".

"ID" is of course an abbreviaton of "identity" and so should be "Id.".

[FSM with Cheddar]

SQL is pronounced seequel because the full abbreviation is Structure English Query Language - SEQL. But the E disappeared over time.

[MrMark]

I had an account with (Lloyds) TSB Bank plc. Trustees Savings Bank Bank.

[Advocate]

So what about PHP and GNU?


/giving the handle another turn...